The chief of federal government IT talks about moving from Microsoft to Obama’s administration

Right behind Steven VanRoekel is a plaque that proclaims the Federal Communications Commission as one of the best places to work in government.

When VanRoekel joined the FCC as its managing director in 2009, after a lifetime career at Microsoft, the federal agency was near the bottom of the league table of good government workplaces. Within a year, it had risen to near the top. Hence the plaque, which has pride of place in VanRoekel’s office, in the massive Eisenhower Executive Building, within a stone’s throw of the White House West Wing.

It’s a proud possession for VanRoekel, who moved from the FCC to become chief information officer in the Office for Management and Budget in August 2011. And it helps him explain why this former Microsoft executive, who until 2009 had spent his entire career with the Seattle IT giant, wanted to join the US government.…